Justice of Earth
by Princess Kassie
Summary: Tara was born fifty years after the Reach took over. Recently she has been given a new chance at life and the ability to stop what happened all those years ago but to do so she must join the Young Justice team. They know she's hiding something, but could the answer lie in the turtle shaped phone she carried with her? Rated T for death, violence and implied swearing.
1. Chapter 1 Reach for the Sky

Chapter 1

Reach for the Sky

_When I was born, there was no hope. Life was simply surviving til the next day. Until I met Raphael Hamato. I was only four years old, starving to death simply because I couldn't care to live anymore, my parents were dead what was the point. Raphael gave my life a point. I will always be thankful for that. He was the one who gave me a chance of life, who taught me, fed me, clothed me, bathed me when I was younger (I had never bathed before, it was a rare treat that we did once every few months). Because of him I am here with the younger version of my adoptive father, his three brothers, their father who has become like a uncle or grandfather, their family is now my family and my team. My team. Actually the Young Justice League isn't my team, it's Kaldur's, I'm kind of the unofficially appointed second in command and I don't even know when that happened! Kaldur, or Kaldur'ahm is Aqualad, this little team has become family as well. Aqualad, Superboy,Miss Martian, Artemis, Robin, BatGirl, Red Arrow, Kid Flash, and me. I will eternally be thankful to you all for being my family, for supporting me and for helping me make the world the way it is today. For you who don't know my story, my name is Tara Hamato,(Ya-Ma-Toe, rhymes with tomato toe-ma-toe, not tomato toe-mate-O). I am also known as Dark Star or Shadow Ninja. Funny how people get names that they don't choose for themselves huh? Well, this is not just my story, even if I would like to say otherwise. It's all our stories, and one day, it will be yours as well. Just remember, the world may tell you to go for the gold, do your best and you will succeed. Don't believe them, because you will only reach the sky with that philosophy, so instead, grab your teammates, trust each other and work together. Only then will you truly reach beyond the sun, beyond the stars, beyond even the realm of possibility._

* * *

It was a dark night, dark and cold but someone was to busy to pay attention to the chill in the air. A black form woodshed by, slipping in and out of trees. Finally the black form came upon a fence. The distinct sound of charged wire hummed through the air, the figure in black ignored it, using a rock to launch himself over and to the other side. The figure in black moved on, crouching between two old run down houses made of wood, peeking at the numbers until he got to number 475. Looking around the figure made sure no one was around before rapping on the wooden wall. Rap tat a tat tat, rap tat. There was silence before a response came. Rap tap, rap tap, tat.

The figure in black's eyes twinkled, his mouth was unseen, covered by mask over the lower part of his face. He lifted one of the wooden boards and pulled a medium sized package out of a pouch at his side and slid it through the hole. There was shuffling on the other side then a second later a smaller package was pushed through.

"Thank you," the dark figure whispered, but that voice did not belong to any male, though the darkness hid her identity well. She stood and placed the small package into her bag. It was then she heard it, a soft voice singing in the dark wooden house lyrics that the dark figure recognized.

"What the shell are you singing?" the girl demanded harshly, in a tight whisper.

"Your song."

"How do you know it?"

"Your mother sang it to you when you where little."

"How do you know it? she was the one who made it."

"It is my ability." The dark figure blinked, "You're a meta?" She whispered.

"Yes," the unseen speaker responded, "you must go, they will be coming soon." The black figure turned to run before stopping, "Who are you?"

"I am what I am who I am, my mother was MsM and my father SB, I hold mother's powers, Tara." Tara, the female shadow dressed in black gasped, "No… but they died before they could-"

"I know. You must go now, someone's waiting for you." Tara nodded, turned, then took off. Forgetting to place the wooden board back in its place. It wasn't needed, the board lifted itself up and floated into place, as though it had never moved.

"You were always destined for more." the speaker whispered.

* * *

I've had many names. For being only sixteen years old I've been through my fair share. I've been called, kid, girl, hey you, her, Kid, Tara and once, long long ago, Abby. I think Abby was my first name, the one my parents had called me, but the memories of those days have long since faded away. I like Tara, it suits who I am now, though more often I'm called Kid. I don't mind, he called me Kid since he found me. So, I guess you could say my name is Tara, I'm sixteen years old and I live on earth. If this ruin of a world deserves to have a name. Earth is dead. The entire planet, only humans, powered or not, and a rare few others survived. The population of this dead ball of dirt has been cut down to one out of every five people from it's previous population. Those who are alive work their lives away as slaves for the Reach.

Long ago, decades before I was born, when Raph was only fifteen, an alien group called the Reach landed on Earth. They befriended us, then stabbed us in the back. The superheroes of that time, the Justice League and various other groups did their best. In the end, they all failed. The Reach took the survivors and unmasked them in front of the world before slaughtering them all. From then on the Reach had ruled our world with a fist of iron.

I lay on my 'bed' which is more of a space that is just long enough for me to stretch out fully and just tall enough for me to sit up. It's hidden in the back of a crawlspace in the roof behind a panel which hides me. I do have a mattress as well, though it's more of a pile of straw with a blanket on top then a mattress. I wait listening as I hear the distinctive muted sounds of fists colliding with the punching bag that hangs from the rafters. The pungent scents of Tiger Balm and Coffee and the subtle tomato smell of spaghetti swirling together calmed me it was the smell I associated with morning.

A few seconds later the punching bag was abandoned and the fire was started. I smiled as I heard the crackles and snaps as the fire devoured the old wood. A few seconds later I heard the fizzling of eggs being cooked. That was my signal. I got out of my bed and sifted all the blankets on top fairly neatly, fluffing up my pillow which was a piece of fabric stuffed with old rags. With a sigh I pulled on my clothes and headed down stairs. The ladder creaked slightly as I slipped down it, completely ignoring the rungs. I landed on the solid dirt floor with a thud. My teacher, companion and best friend turned to me and smiled, his rich green eyes still youthful in his wrinkled face.

"Hey Kid," he greeted me, his face warm as he slid an egg onto my wooden plate. I smiled and turned to sit down on the roughly crafted bench. After a few more seconds he joined me, twirling on of his sai expertly before using it as a fork. I snorted slightly as he waggled his left hand teasingly at me.

"That doesn't work quite as well when you only have three fingers" I responded.

"Aw, shell, what am I to do?" he asked sarcastically I chuckled at the word choice as he gulped down the rest of his egg and stood. The edge of his shell brushing me. Yes, shell. Raphael Hamato, my teacher, friend, and sensei was a turtle. A giant anthropomorphic turtle. Actually giant is a little overrated, he's 5' 8" which is within normal hight for a human. Plus, it's much btter then my 5' 6".

"We were once called the TMNT," he had told me one day when I asked about his life 'before', "Mikey started it, it means Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles since we fit all those categories it worked, I guess we didn't realize that we wouldn't be teenagers forever." he chuckled darkly, "Now there's only me, the MNT." he had chuckled again adding, "Sounds like mint."

I was pulled out of my reminiscing by a "Hey Kid, ya okay?" I looked up and nodded, smiling. Raphael raised his eyebrow. "Do fifty kata for me." I groaned, my smile falling, but did as he said. I had been training to be a Kunoichi, a female ninja since I was five years old. A year after Raphael had found me. My parents had fallen victim to one of the many deadly diseases that ran amok in that time, technically I guess the diseases and illnesses still did.

I was born in the year two-thousand, fifty-five (2055) the fiftieth anniversary of the Reach's reign on earth. Fifty years before I was born the Reach took over, killed all the heroes and made Earth their own. Even now the Reach keep an eye out for anyone with powers, if you have powers and are found then you are taken and either experimented on, or forced to work in their labour force until you die. Meta's are not allowed to breed, the Reach are forcing the gene to vanish.

Since I don't have a meta gene I'm safe, the Reach won't be that interested in a sixteen year old girl and her adoptive mutant father as long as they don't try to cause problems. I don't, I could live here all my life in safety. Yet, I've always wished that I could see what the world was like before the Reach attacked, before the heroes were killed and the Utrom driven off. To see gigantic buildings touching the sky, to see aliens, good aliens, like the Utrom, Martians or Kriptonians. Speaking of Martians and Kriptonians my mind went to the person I had talked with last night. She and I had been trading for a long time, I'd bring her food (often pasta) and she would give me tiger balm or other things that no one outside the Reach's camps had. She was the daughter of MsM and SB? I just couldn't believe it. MsM was the code for Miss Martian, and SB was the code for SuperBoy. The strange thing was, if she was their child, she would have to be over fifty years old! Yet, she sounded no older then ten. Maybe she got her father's genetics when it came to ageing. SuperBoy was known as the immortal hero, he never aged past sixteen, ever. And here I was thinking I was dealing with a ten year old. I finished my katas with one final thrust and quickly sat down on my legs, my hands on my lap. Raphael walked over and nodded firmly. He opened his mouth to say something… when the door of our hut was literally knocked down.

Two Reach officers were thrown across the room and knocked out before they could even say the first words. We didn't need to hear it, we knew what the Reach being here meant for us. Raph didn't even look at me, "Go upstairs, grab only what you need." I nodded and shot up as fast as I could.

* * *

Less then five minutes later I joined Raph on the main floor with a backpack. We left the house and didn't look back. I had the dark feeling of this being the final time I would ever see it but I didn't turn around.

We found a shelter under a large rock formation about three kilometres away. "Why did they come, we've done nothing wrong!" I said to in shock, sensei shook his head, "Who knows how the Reach find out things? I still don't know how they-"

"How they found you and your bothers?" I asked quietly. Raph nodded before turning to me. The tattered strands of his red bandanna fluttered in the slight wind. Gently he placed a hand on my shoulder, "Tara," I jerked up and stared in astonishment at my teacher, friend and adoptive father. I had only heard him call be Tara five times before, despite it being my name.

"Tara, I don't want you to be in danger, I don't want you to be running all your life. There was a reason I taught you how to protect yourself." He looked me in the eye and I could see he was serious.

"I have always wanted to be able to go back in time, to change all this from happening to you, to my brothers, to everyone, but I couldn't. But not because I don't have the means to." I stared in shock, "You have a time portal!" I whisper shouted, Raphael chuckled grimly but nodded, "Yeah, But it only works if you don't exist in the time you first travel to, that's why you must go, you weren't born until I was in my fifties." He pulled his bag onto his lap and pulled out several objects.

"This is a mini Utrom Transmat device, it can control both, time and space, you type in what dimension, galaxy, planet, and city, then what date and time."

"Cool," I gasped reaching out to touch the transmat, "That's Utrom technology?" Raph shook his head while smiling at my excitment before adding, "It only works once though, so be sure you've type in the right place. Oh, and here," he passed me a huge wad of paper bills, "I specifically chose only ones before 2001 since that's the year you're going to travel to." Suddenly everything that Raph was saying hit me full force, I was being sent into the past to stop this from happening. He was giving me the job of changing the future of the world, "You can't be serious," I said out loud.

"Sensei, I can't-No, I Won't go without you, we can use the transmat together, we can-" he cut me off.

"This transmat will only move one person, and that person needs to be you. When the Reach took over Donnie, Leo and I all decided to change the outcomes. This is the result of our combined efforts," Raph passed me a large book bound with wood and leather strips.

"This has the information you'll need to not only survive that time, but to change everything that can be changed."

"Will I ever see you again?" I asked quietly, tears threatening to form.

"No."

For a second I stared at him before hugging him around the waist. Raphael hugged me back, "I'll miss ya Kid," he murmured. I nodded, placing the book in my backpack. "One last thing," Raph said. He passed me his sai with a small smile, "They're yours now, take good care of them, OK?" I nodded before taking the transmat and typing in, Dimension 7, Milky Way, Earth, New York. 3rd of June, 2001. I gulped, one sai placed firmly in my left hand, the right wrapped around the transmat. I was about to press the button when Raph interrupted me again.

"Make sure you destroy it after you use it, and make sure that tracking device is gone too." I nodded firmly then pressed the button.

"It's done." I murmured.

"It will take a bit of time to work." Silence, you could cut with a knife beat at the air. I looked at the turtle who I loved as a father, "I'll miss you." I muttered. Raph turned and smiled, "I'll miss you too kid, take care will you?"

"Ya, I will."

"Heh, now don't get into any trouble. I know my brothers and I got into plenty, just trust your instincts, and don't listen to Mikey, or me."

"Seriously?" I asked looking at him, he looked at me in reply and I groaned.

"I'm doomed"

"And why do you say that Kid?"

"Because I've been listening to you for my entire life."

"Are you giving me lip?" Raph asked, cocking a nonexistent eyebrow.

"Maybe."

"Brat."

" Tu-"

"Finish that word and I'll wash your mouth out with soap!" I chuckled slightly. Silence fell upon us again, but it didn't last long. Raph stiffened.

"Tara, go, take everything and get as far away as you can from here. Go!" I responded on instinct, grabbed my bag, slung it over my shoulder and snatched the Transmat device from the ground. I was halfway down the cave when I stopped. I turned and peeked out, watching Raph. He was sitting in a pose of meditation, his eyes closed, his face relaxed. In front of him, one green one blue of the Reach stood before him. The Reach were tall, never shorter then five foot ten, with long lanky bodies and rectangular heads, their colours ranged all over; it was the colour you were born with that decided your rank, Pink were scientists, Green generals and high ranking military men, blue were soldiers and moderate workmen, scientist helpers etc. Red were the ones belonging to the law, lawyers, judges, prison guards and executioners. White were the rulers, the lords, ladies and the king and queen. There were other colours, but only those ones were ever seen. Earth had only seen the white Reach 4 times, the first when Earth lost, the second when the governments were overthrown and twice when the heroes of the world were killed.

The blue one poked Raph.

"You, get up, now." Raph opened one eye.

"Is something the problem," he asked.

"You are the one who raised the girl," sensei opened one eye and raised a nonexistent eyebrow, "What girl?"

"H-756" I winced, H-756 was my identifaction number, every living thing on Earth with the exception of wild animals had one.

"Ahh, well, yes I did. But she decided that she was old enough to go out on her own, find a husband, make a family you know? She doesn't have a meta gene so it should be allowed-"

"She was seen conversing with a meta, that is a criminal offence, the meta has been punished, she too will get her due." Raph stood and stretched, leaning slightly as though he had been sitting in the position for a while.

"A meta huh? Well I probably won't be much help, but you can try the forest, that was the direction she was headed in last I saw her." The green alien nodded then frowned as he picked up a small device. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he looked up at sensei.

"Strange because this tracker says otherwise." before Raph could move a gun was trained on his forehead.

"In fact, it says she's in that cave, right behind you."

_A/N (Author's Note) So what do you think of this story? Please let me know reviewing takes hardly any time at all and it makes me happy. Thank you I can't wait to hear from you all. Princess Kassie Out._


	2. Chapter 2 Future Met Past

Chapter 2

Future, Met Past

_I know I made a cliffhanger, Bad Princess, Bad. Ha, kidding. Okay so here's chapter 2! I'll address what happens through Tara's POV in this chapter, just not right away. We need to see the turtles (and Splinter I love that rat) Oh and as you probably noticed in chapter one (but I forgot to tell you) The Young Justice League has a member (besides my OC) who shouldn't be there in season 1. My character makes changes to the story, you know the ripple effect? When she goes back in time she changes things that happened before she appeared. I'll address that whole thing in the next chapter (or this one, I'm not sure yet.) Anyway it will all make sense in time. Can anyone guess who Tara will be paired with? Who do you think? Turtle or human (with or without a meta gene) and if so are they a character and which one? Let me know._

_As always, _ _Princess Kassie Out._

Leonardo Hamato was meditating deeply breathing in, out, in out quietly. His mind focused solely on the candle that flickered in front of him. Nothing was in his mind, nothing. Nothing.

_**BOOM**_

_..._

"_MIKEY!"_

"uhh dudes, that isn't me."

Leo opened his eyes feeling very tempted to roll them. Instead he stood to see what the commotion was about. There lying in the middle of the room about two feet away from the burning candle was a girl. She was curled into a ball and whimpering, the only sign that she was alive besides the noise was the slight shaking of her shoulders. Mikey and Donny were staring at her in unabashed amazement. Long medium brown hair spilled over her head, covering her face and arms, touching the floor. Slowly Leo stood and approached her, he gently placed one hand on her shoulder.

The girl shrieked and took off so fast she was simply a blur to the startled Leo. She tripped over a candle stick causing it to hit the ground with a clang. She shrieked again but this time she spoke as well. "warui, warui!" she shrieked like a siren. _Bad _Leo thought, confused _what's bad? And why is she screaming? In Japanese no less? _The girl didn't seem to notice she was in a complete panic.

Just to make matters more difficult Splinter came out of his room. He saw the girl and in less then a second had placed himself in front of her.

"Sore wa anata ga anzende daijōbuda" Splinter said softly, the girl, perceiving him not to be a threat collapsed to the ground. "Nakunatte, sensei nakunatte" she whispered. Splinter sat down and gently took her hands.

"Sore wa anata ga anzende daijōbuda" he repeated, this time more firmly. She swallowed and wiped away some tears before she nodded. Leo looked at the two wondering what in the world had just happened.

Tara's POV

_Raph stood and stretched, leaning slightly as though he had been sitting in the position for a while. _

"_A meta huh? Well I probably won't be much help, but you can try the forest, that was the direction she was headed in last I saw her."_ _The green alien nodded then frowned as he picked up a small device. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he looked up at sensei. _ _ "__Strange because this tracker says otherwise." before Raph could move a gun was trained on his forehead._ _ "__In fact, it says she's in that cave, right behind you."_

I stumbled backwards in shock, no, no this couldn't be happening. "Teishi." I whispered, switching to Japanese, which had become a major language for me, "Nai, teshi." Sensei tried to bluff it off, "Maybe she has become a rogue and taken her tracer off, so you couldn't find her, maybe your device isn't working, or-"

"Shut up worm."

"I'm not a worm, I'm a turtle. Huge difference." I stumbled back as fast as I could, I turned then ran.

"GO, TARA, GET OUT OF-" A crack of a gun split the air and Raph went silent. I gasped in horror but kept running, fear and adrenaline refusing allow me to grieve while my life was in danger. The dark cave split into two and I took off down the left. Wrong choice. The tunnel was in a dead end, the only opening was just large enough for me to stick my fist through. The adrenaline suddenly died and I collapsed, grief consuming me, I would either die or be dragged into a Reach labour camp. No, I will kill myself before I allow that I thought, determined. Yet my heart ached as tears ran down my face I curled into a ball around my pack and cried, not even feeling myself being transported to another place.

_**BOOM**_

* * *

_I was so scared at that moment, nothing besides fear and grief seemed to exist. So I clung to what I knew, if the Reach came for me, interrogated me they would only hear Japanese from my lips, it was the first language I remember speaking and the Reach had never bothered to learn anything besides English or make translators. By the time they ordered them, I would have died. My mind was so focused on those scenarios that I truly believed that when Leo put his hand on me, that he was a Reach soldier about to drag me off or kill me. Once again, my body reacted before I gave it permission, I flew up, leaving my bag on the floor and tearing off, tripping over a candle sick on the way. Screaming, "warui, warui!" in a hopes that they would be put off from the language, maybe they would think I had lost my mind and needed to be put out of my misery. I was so out of it that I didn't realize I was safe until Splinter came in front of me and spoke in Japanese. No one from the Reach would do that, it meant I was somehow safe, which his words only confirmed that, sore wa anata ga anzende daijōbuda, it's alright, you are safe now. He gently guided me to their couch and sat me down, taking the armchair across from me. _

* * *

The large grey rat looked at me with kindly eyes. He seemed mildly surprised over the fact I had calmed down but seemed to have accepted it. I meanwhile was looking at the four turtles standing in front of me, but my eyes kept straying to Raph, he was the one I knew. The one with the purple headband was holding my bag out to me. I took it hesitantly, purple headband, bo staff, so he's Donatello, The one with the orange headband and nuncku must be Michelangelo, which leaves Katanna and blue headband as Leonardo I quietly assessed before turning to the grey rat. That means, this is Master Splinter.

"I must admit I am surprised," I looked up to see Master Splinter watching me, "I have rarely seen a human who was as calm as you are over the fact that we are mutants." I shrugged, "I've seen a lot of things in my lifetime," I responded, "Why not mutant rat and turtles. No offence." I added as an afterthought, unsure if calling them rat and turtles would be appreciated.

"What's with your clothes?" Michelangelo asked trying to hid his laughter. I frowned and looked down, I was wearing jeans that were torn, dirty, and uneven, one end stopping at my knee, the other a few inches above that. For a shirt I simply wore a thick strip of grey cloth wrapped around my chest and secured by three wooden buttons. My footwear choice probably stood out the most. Thin blocks of wood were secured to my feet by pieces of cloth, the cloth wrapped around both foot and wood several dozen times, making my feet appear bigger, but muffling any clunking noises the wood could have made. I shrugged, "Life's hard where I come from," I said quietly.

"Rough? You look like you came from an apocalypse."

"I did."

Silence

To break the tension Donny stood up, "I noticed you dropped this" he said handing me the transmat. Seeing it triggered a memory. Sensei had asked me to destroy both the transmat device and the tracking device.

"Thanks, do you have a hammer?" Donny narrowed his eyes, "Why,"

"So I can destroy this."

"WHAT!" I groaned in annoyance, "It needs to be destroyed, I... I promised someone very close to me that I would destroy it." Donny had taken it from my hands, "It's a priceless piece of technology-"

"That hasn't been invented yet." All five looked at me and I sighed, I was going to have to tell them the truth wasn't I?

"I'm... I'm from the future," I murmured. Then taking a deep breath I started to tell them my entire story.

* * *

Leo's POV

The girl, Tara as she had introduced herself, finished her story with a calm, "Then I came here, you know the rest." before looking at them all again. Part of him wanted to make sure she was telling the truth but it wasn't really his place to judge. Still, she hadn't told them everything, but they really had no right to know everything, they were pretty much complete strangers. Still Leo felt some pity for her, how much she had been through, raised with no hope, her parents dead when she was three, every day trying to get buy without ending up in a labour camp to be experimented on by the alien race which has taken over the world. There were large gaps in her story though, what the race of aliens was called, who was the stranger who knew ninjitsu and adopted her and how he got a hold of Utrom technology which had yet to have been made. She stubbornly refused to answer the questions but besides those ones she was very willing to talk.

"Tea?" I asked, holding a cup of the liquid out. Tara smiled, "Yes please."

Master Splinter had gone to meditate on the recent events, Donny had gone off to work on one experiment or another, Raph had vanished and Mikey was either playing a video game or drawing another comic which just left him. I felt that I needed to be polite to our guest, however I still didn't trust her completely. Tara smiled.

"Thank you Leonardo," I shook my head, "Only sensei calls us our full names, sensei or enemies, you're neither-" that I know of, I added silently "-so I'm just Leo."

"You have an assumed name too?" she asked, curiosity in her eyes, "I guess that's what Tara is for me, well, it wasn't the name I was born with, but it's the name I chose for myself and the one I answer to." I stared at her in shock, "You chose your own name? Why didn't you keep the name your parents gave you?" she shrugged, "I really can't see myself as an Abby, and I really am not completely certain that is the name my parents gave me. Besides, they were only with me for the first three years of life. Sensei, that is, my sensei raised me since I was three. He's more my father then my biological father, not that it's his fault." she added.

"Why didn't your sensei name you if he didn't know your name. Or did he name you Tara?" she shook her head and a strand of hair fell in her brown eyes, she brushed it away before answering.

"He... he called me Kid, didn't really call me anything else. I chose Tara as my name when I was seven years old. I think I did a good job." I couldn't disagree but something was still not quite sitting right about her, she was hiding something, something seemed familiar about the way she described her sensei, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Tell me about him," "My sensei? Let's see, he was always kind to me and worked me hard, quite the perfectionist, course, he had to be, any one of the techniques he taught me could end up saving my life some day. He taught me how to fight with several typical ninja weapons, the bo staff, single katanna, shuriken, and sai, his favourite. I also know hand to hand, and quite a few... tricks." she must have seen my alarmed expression so she quickly added, "Yes, they weren't honourable but where I came from, survival was what was important, not honour, you followed honour to much and it was just to easy to end up dead. It's so strange to see him-"

she gasped in shock and threw her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide. But I had heard the slip and I knew what it meant. Suddenly everything fell into place, the reason she was so secretive, why she wouldn't stop looking at Raph, why her sensei was comfortable with sai and why he called her kid. Her adoptive father and sensei was my brother.

"Don't listen to that, I meant to say it will be strange to see him-"

"I know what you meant. Tara, Raphael is your adoptive father, right?" Tara stared at me then sighed and nodded.

"Does that mean you know the rest of us?" I asked, wondering if to her we were her uncles. Once again she shook her head.

"Leo, you don't understand, when the first attacked one out of every ten people all over earth died. Then the Reach started to take people and experiment on them, out of which quite a few people died or went into comatose states and the Reach would kill those people. Then the Reach killed all the active heroes, slaughtered them to make a point and exposed all their secret identities. Then there was plagues, starvation, people killing one another to steal their possessions, buildings collapsing and all the while the Reach searching for anyone who might be actively opposing them." I cut her off.

"You're telling me that all of us except Raph, died?" she nodded solemnly and took a sip of her tea before continuing.

"It was pure luck that Rah survived, you guys had just finished making something to guide the person of your choice in this time, the transmat would only move one person and they can't be alive in the time they travel to, so before or after they die, which would make it pretty much impossible for you guys to have used it. Anyway, you and Raph got into a fight, Raph took off, and, well. The Reach found you and Donny, killed both of you." I frowned, "What happened to Mikey and Master Splinter."

"Mikey was killed when the Reach took over and Master Splinter died soon after."

"How?"

"Don't know, sensei always became very quiet when we talked about Splinter's passing. I think he felt guilty." I noticed the look in her eyes, she too looked guilty. I sighed and sat down, putting my three fingered hand on her knee.

"You can't blame yourself, you came here to fix everything, not everyone would have that courage."

"But I wasn't brave, I was scared pantless, and... and sensei died, your brother died because of me." I shook my head, honestly I was beginning to trust the girl, she was still keeping secrets but I was satisfied for now.

"You can't blame yourself, everyone is scared at one time or another it's what you do with that fear that makes you either a coward, or brave." Silently I laughed, I was quoting something Master Splinter has told me some time ago when I was unsure if I was the right choice to lead my brothers, slightly edited for the recent events.

Tara raised an eyebrow.

"Are you quoting someone?" I laughed, she picked up on things quickly didn't she. "Yes, Master Splinter. Listen, we have a spare room upstairs, it's right next to mine, you can use it if you want, Master Splinter did say you could get your pick of empty rooms. The bathroom's right over there too if you need to use it." I added, pointing.

"I think I'll take you up on that, and... feel free to tell your brother's about what I just told you." I smiled, "Friends?"

"Friends." she agreed, taking my hand and giving it a firm shake.

_A/N Just a heads up, this is what was said in Japanese._

_Warui = Bad _

_Sore wa anata ga anzende daijōbuda = It's alright, you are safe now_

_Nakunatte = Gone _

_Sensei = (this should be obvious), teacher, Tara refers to Raphael as sensei _

_Teishi = stop_

_nai = no_

_Please inform me if any of this is incorrect, I got it off various sites and Google searches so just let me know. Thank you._ _Okay now for some other information what is said in italics, like this but is part of the story is thoughts, Tara's journal entries, or a few sentences from the previous chapter (only if it was a cliff hanger). What is bold and in italics are sounds, boom, crash, smash etc. Normal writing nothing fancy is what is happening now. Words that have stars around the *__**like this***__ are thoughts from the mind link which is not going to appear for the next few chapters. So just to be clear;_

_italics = thoughts, Tara's journal entries or a reminder of a cliff hanger in the chapter before_

_**bold and italics = sounds, boom, crash, bang etc. **_

*Stared* = mind link

_Got that? Good, Please let me know what you think of my story (or any other story of mine you read) by reviewing! It makes me happy and happy writer writes more! _


	3. Chapter 3 Getting to Know You

Tara's POV

I woke in the morning feeling better but missing the usual sights and sounds of morning. No more tiger balm and spaghetti scents but there was a familiar sound coming from the lower level. A punching bag. Smiling at the familiar sound I stood. I felt almost, too clean if that makes any sense. Then again, I was used to going without bathing for months at a time (with the obvious exception of when it rained which really shouldn't count).

I looked around. The room was amazing. The walls were made of stone with some sort of gem that glowed softly to create light though the ones inside the rooms were darker then the ones in the main area, but if you tapped them they grew brighter, which was more then a little beyond my understanding. The only source of light at night was candles and the Reach's search lights which in general you wanted to avoid. Speaking of the Reach... my mind wandered to how on earth they had caught me. Normally the Reach didn't pay attention to where the little dots that pointed out the regular people were located, they payed more attention to where the metas were. I stood, pulling myself out of the hammock which served as my bed and walked around the room. It was beautiful but simple, only a hammock hung on a corner and a small empty bookshelf. All ready I had made myself at home, my few possessions already in their place. My weapons stood on top of the bookshelf along with the shattered remains of my tracer and the transmat. Don't get me started on were the tracer was or how I got it out, simply leave it as it was painful and I don't ever want to experience that again. I looked at the large book. Curiosity tugged at me and I picked up the book. It was listed alphabetically I noticed the letter T and turned to it. Right up in the front hand written in green ink was the words TMNT Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles. I turned to the next page. It read Donatello.

Donatello: Born: 1986  
Bandanna colour: purple

Weapon of choice: bo staff

Strengths: intellect, inventing, techno-stuff

Place: second youngest brother

Things to know about Donnie:

I looked then laughed, here there were four kinds of handwriting, one in green, one in blue, and the last in red, one colour for each of the brothers who had survived.  
Things to know about Donnie: Don's a Coffee-a-holic you will rarely see him without a cup of coffee in hand (unless he's fighting or tinkering with delicate stuff). Donnie has trouble sleeping, especially if he is working on a project, which he always is, it's probably the reason for his must-drink-coffee syndrome. Warning! Donnie gets very snappy if disturbed when in the middle of an experiment of if you break something he was working on. So don't disturb him.

I laughed under my breath, I could honestly see Donnie acting that way from the few stories I had heard about him, he really did seem like the studious brainy person. I quickly moved on to read the rest there were several more labels, favourite colour, quirks, best gifts, and other little random facts. I decided to move on, I could learn those later. I knew Raph well so I wasn't worried about reading his bio. I turned the next page. Leo. I smiled and began to read, it was written in a similar format but the quirks caught my attention.

Quirks: Has a thing for fuzzy socks, (seriously, dangle a pair of fuzzy socks in front of his nose. See what he'll do!) Very specific on kinds of tea, will pretty much only drink it if it was made from actual tea leaves.

Socks? I thought, why socks? I shrugged it off and turned to Michelangelo's page.

Once I felt a bit more comfortable with understanding who each turtle was as a person, I headed downstairs. Leo must have told his brothers what I had revealed to him last night because they were all staring at me when I came down, dressed in clothes I had borrowed from the guest room. I blushed, these clothes were so… fine. I felt strange wearing them, especially after having a bath this morning. Like some sort of holiday.

I shifted uncomfortably, feeling more then a little exposed with my strange surroundings. That was when Leonardo spoke up.

"Tara, come sit over here. I saved you a spot." There were two chairs on either side of Leonardo, one at the head of the table, the second beside him along it's length. I took the one at the side, knowing full well that the head of the table was always reserved for the matriarch of the family.

I was happy just to sit and chat. I was not expecting to have Mikey serve a meal fit for a king. I stared down at the food on my plate in awe. Two sausages, two pieces of bacon, two large fluffy pancakes and a spoonful of hash browns. That wasn't including the choice of oranges or bananas the said fruit sitting in a large bowl. I stared at the food in astonishment. Never had I seen such a fest before.  
"This is all for me?" I asked in a stunned voice.

"Course, why wouldn't it be?" Mikey said in astonishment. Donnie spoke up next, "Mikey, Tara came from a post apocalyptic world, they probably didn't have quite the same amount of food as we do now. Besides, all you have to do is look at her to know she hasn't been eating-" Donnie was cut off by Raph slapping his hand over Donnie's mouth. I looked down at myself. I knew I was thin, but I guess with how much food was usual for these people I probably looked sickly. I was well aware that the fact I could see my ribs was not a good sign. "Do I look that terrible?" I asked.

"Not for what you've been through, no." Donnie said quickly, "but compared to what people here are used to… you'd be suspect to abuse and probably an eating disorder, it would be the only explanation they could think of for your anorexia."

"Now eat up-"

"Slowly-" Leo added, interrupting Mikey who shot a look at Leo before continuing.

"Ok. So eat up, but slowly. Stop when you're full. Don't eat to much, your stomach might not be used to a lot of food just yet."

"Do you always have so much to eat?"

"Yeah, pretty much, don't worry if you can't eat as much as us, were teenaged boys, the general description is slightly crazy with large appetites." Leo said, I think it was a attempt of a joke because after a moment he added, "I guess that makes Mikey the king, since he'll beat us all at both categories." Mikey grinned and leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head.

After the meal (of which I was able to eat the entire plate and a banana) we settled down. I sat and listened as Mikey told stories. Donnie was tinkering with some gadget or another while Raph and Leo trained quietly, listening in to my exclamations of awe and surprise, butting in when Mikey tried to over-exaggerate his own actions.

"Well I'm the battle nexus champion, so there." Mickey childishly stuck out his tongue after Raph reprimanded him for the fifth time.

"Battle nexus champion?" I asked in curiosity, unsure of what exactly that was. Donnie perked up.

"The battle nexus, it's a small world that doesn't truly have a dimension of it's own. A world between worlds- a nexus. It's ruled by the Domeo. He gives the best martial arts warriors of well, literally anywhere the chance to prove themselves to truly be the best in the multiverse."

"Mikey won? That's pretty impressive?" I was a little awestruck that Mikey was able to do that. It sounded like a very hard competition.

"He only won because the first time he had to fight Splinter who just let him win, and then he fought Raph and used Raph's anger issues against him and then the last one there was a huge storm and we were fighting someone else which interfered with his match so he won." I raised my eyebrow at Donnie, "there are only three rounds in the championship?" I asked incredulously.

"Well no," Donnie admitted keeping his eyes fixed only on his experiment, "but we completely bypassed the preliminary rounds."

"But there were still other levels then the three you mentioned."

"Yes."

"So Mikey had to have done some work, even if it wasn't a lot."

"Yeah!" Mikey perked up with a smile then the rest of my sentence caught up to him.

"Hey!" We all (well, except Mikey) laughed.

Master Splinter walked in a few seconds later, his walking stick firmly in his left paw. He walked over sat down on the green couch before using his walking stick to turn on the TV. A blond woman appeared and I stared in astonishment. I had never seen a TV, only heard of them. The Reach didn't use them, they had their own methods of contacting who they wanted that didn't require a large awkward device.

I watched, craning my neck to see around the large sofa (the boys, Splinter and I would all be able to sit on it, with room for another person I'd call that large). I watched with interest when I saw on TV a review of what had happened recently with the heroes. The Justice League had stopped the sun from turning black as well as the news on the sidekicks getting their first look at the hall which was followed by pictures of the leaguers and their sidekicks. One in particular caught my attention it was a picture of batman and robin but those weren't the ones who had caught my interest it was the girl dressed in dark purple who everyone called BatGirl. "That's not right," I muttered racking my brains for when BatGirl was supposed to join the rest of the team, "She's not supposed to be here for another two years."

"She's not?" I turned to see Mikey looking at me curiously. I shook my head, "No, BatGirl isn't supposed to have joined the team until 2003. Even though she's a year older then Robin."

"Weird,"

"Not really." Mikey and I turned to see that Donnie had been listening into our conversation, "It must be a part of the ripple effect."

"What's a ripple effect?" I asked in curiosity. Donnie looked surprised and delighted at once while Mikey, Leo and Raph all shared a knowing look.

"The ripple effect is when someone has messed with the time stream, like going back in time. It's like… Imagine the time stream itself is a river, a slow moving one but still, a river. Now take a pebble from father up river and drop it down river. What happens?"

"It splashes,"

"And makes ripples." I frowned trying to grasp the concept.

"When you drop a pebble the ripples don't just move forward, they go backwards to."

"Right." Donnie said, smiling with pride at the fact I had understood. "Those ripples that go backwards will effect the time stream, even though it's the ones going forward that are the strongest. The river won't stop moving so the ripples move forwards more then backwards-" he cut off. My head ached as I tried to get it wrapped around what he had been saying. It didn't help that he had hardly taken a breath during the last few sentences.

"I think her brain just imploded." Raph joked, trying to hide his laughter. Donnie huffed before going into the kitchen to brew a cup of coffee for himself.

Groaning I rubbed my head, now understanding why sensei had always told me that Donnie got a little to scientific sometimes.


End file.
